This was my first AR build and would also be the first time I’ve ever shot an AR. I’ve owned an M&P 15-22 so I was somewhat familiar with the AE platform but since I’m a tinkerer I started researching how difficult it would be to build an AR myself. After consulting a few friends who have already built their own one of which is a former military firearms instructor I felt confident that as long as I paid attention to detail I should be able to accomplish my goal of building my own AR.
I wanted a lightweight low budget AR due to the fact that there’s only one place near me (less than an hour away) that I couple even shoot an AR and that’s a 25 yard indoor range. After assembly I took the completed rifle to my LGS to have every thing checked out and it passed with flying colors. The total build cost came to around 550 and for a project like this that’s about all I wanted to spend. I took it to the range and put 100 rounds through it and it functioned flawlessly. For plinking and an occasional range trip this riffle should be ok, but if I decide to build another for home defense I’d probably go with higher quality parts just to be on the safe side.
Lower:
New Frontier Armory stripped polymer lower
New Frontier Armory fire control group
Palmetto State Armory LPK w/ commercial buffer tube
Magpul MOE commercial stock
UTG Grip
Upper:
SotaArms assembled upper
MAS Defense 16" barrel with carbine length gas system
Low profile gas block
Carbine length gas tube
Mil Spec BCG (couldn’t tell what manufacturer got it from a friend who put it together himself)
UTG Pro super slim hand guard
Magpul MBUS sights (from my old 15-22)
